A Glimpse of the Future
by Tessenchan
Summary: It couldn't have been him. He wouldn't leave her. Ten/Donna, from Rose's point of view.


**A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE** by Tessenchan (mihane_echo)

A/N: First posted on livejournal in September 2009.

She was a bit bored. Here she was in a skymall in the thirty-first century, and still thumbing through cheap silken tops and plotting the best way to haggle them down from the ridiculous advertised price. Some things never changed.

Rose sighed and moved to a rack of green leopard-print halter tops; not even remotely her style, but it made her grin to imagine the Doctor's face if she showed up wearing one. Even as she thought of him, a familiar brownish shape flashed out of the corner of her eye. Instinctively Rose glanced down the promenade towards the shape, not expecting it to be him-- and then did a double take as a man, unmistakably the Doctor, jogged across the adjacent walk, lithely moving in between other pedestrians.

How had he gotten ahead of her so quickly? She'd just left him at an electronics shop three blocks back, silently but gleefully examining a rotating multi... something or another. _And what is he wearing?_ Rose winced in distaste at the blue ensemble peeking out from under his overcoat. It didn't suit him.

With a baffled shake of her head, the young blonde left the clothes rack and started towards him. Just as she opened her mouth to call his name, he opened his.

"Donna!"

Rose's feet came to an abrupt halt. She blinked.

Donna? Who was Donna?

She watched him stop at a table outside the cafe on the corner and slip his arms around the ginger woman who was seated there, give her mouth a tender kiss. Rose's heart clenched at the gesture, at the mirthful grin on his face. He only ever looked at her that way.

Rose took a few uncertain steps forward. Was this man really her Doctor? He couldn't be, could he? She knew she would never be satisfied unless she knew for sure. Following the stream of people to the other side of the street, she darted behind a traveler's information kiosk on the corner. It was large enough to hide her from view, but close enough to hear the couple's conversation.

"Did you find what you wanted at Nashira?" the redhead asked. From her accent, Rose guessed she was a Londoner too. And not that it was saying a lot, as it seemed half the universe sounded straight out of the United Kingdom, but how had a Londoner found themselves in the Capricornus Skymall in 3006?

Probably the same way Rose herself had, if this woman's intimacy with the supposed Doctor was anything to go by.

"Yep," the Doctor said jovially, popping his lips on the P. "The Silver Leaf Millennium Anniversary issue of Geek Monthly."

He waved the magazine at her and his eyes flashed excitedly. "You realize how long I've been looking for this particular magazine? Every single issue from 2006 to the end of the run this year, and I only needed this one to complete the set."

The woman called Donna shook her head as she sipped from her coffee cup. "I'm still shocked and amazed you didn't already have that, as geeky as you are."

The Doctor waggled his head contemplatively. "I came here a couple of years ago with Rose, they had just sold out." He clicked his tongue. "Speaking of, we should probably head back to the TARDIS. I thought this cafe looked familiar; I'm about to catch up with her here."

Rose's face blanched.

"You sure?" Donna offered, looking sympathetic. "You don't want to... say hi?"

The young blonde had been able to see the two of them easily from here, but now she risked a glance around the kiosk; the Doctor looked wistful for a moment and then shook his head.

"She's not the same Rose. And I'm not her Doctor. Not anymore." He hunched his shoulders as he stood, looking flustered. "Besides, if I accidentally see myself as well, I'm going to want to know why I'm here and we'll probably start to argue-- I always do when I bump into me."

Donna laughed and also stood. She linked arms with him as they wound their way through the throng of shoppers clogging the street. For a few moments the Doctor's brown head and the ginger hair of the woman called Donna was still visible. Rose could follow, if she wanted to.

Her hand twitched, as if moving to reach out...

"Rose?"

She spun sharply, startled by the touch of a cool hand on hers. She recognised the blur in front of her. Brown suit. Hair a little bit longer, less spiky. He looked younger, somehow. Her Doctor. His large brown eyes were warm with concern. "All right?"

Rose turned back for just a moment, looking for the brown and ginger couple, but they had gone. Disappeared, as though they had never been there in the first place.

She shook herself out of her thoughts. It hadn't been him. It couldn't have been him. He wouldn't leave her.

They were going to stay together forever.

"Fantastic," she said, throwing her arms around her Doctor. He hugged her back, tightly. As she pulled away, she scrutinised him critically for a long moment. "Who's Donna, by the way?"

The Doctor blinked. "Donna who?"

It was clear by his eyes that he'd didn't recognize the name, least of all did he attach it to a London woman with magnificent ginger hair. Rose shook her head. "Nobody."

Satisfied, the Time Lord grinned down at her. "Right then, we'd best get to Nashira before the Millennium Anniversary edition of Geek Monthly sells out. One last issue, Rose! One more and I'll have the whole set!"

**end**


End file.
